Ludwig von Mises Institute Upcoming Events

Mises University 2008

July 27-August 2, 2008 Auburn, Alabama — 8/3/2008 12:00:00 AM

THIS CONFERENCE IS FULL. Registration is closed. Watch for details soon on Mises University 2009.

Mises University is open to full-time students, faculty, and current Members of the Mises Institute (Click HERE to join). Interested full-time students can apply now to receive a scholarship covering full tuition, housing, and meals (catered and served at the Mises Institute). A limited number of Member Observer and Faculty slots are available. Please contact pat@mises.org

The conference begins with registration anytime between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m. Central Time on Sunday, July 27, with dinner at 7:00 and the first lecture at 8:00 p.m. The last session is Saturday afternoon, August 2 followed by graduation and a cookout. Student dormitory rooms are scheduled for check-out on Sunday, August 3.

AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS

Rooted in the tradition of Carl Menger and Ludwig von Mises, as well as Murray Rothbard and F.A. Hayek, the Austrian School offers a rigorous and logical approach to economics that gives free markets their due and takes full account of the reality of human choice.

More than a field within economics, the Austrian School is an entirely different approach that dissents from the mainstream on method, theory, and policy. It views economic actors as unique, conscious, and freely choosing individuals, not as undifferentiated data to be manipulated mathematically or politically.

THE PROGRAM

The Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics. Since 1986, it has been the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream.

The program offers courses, seminars, and reading groups on the whole range of the discipline. A core curriculum presents economic foundations, and more than fifty elective classes explore the entire range of economics, in all levels of advancement. The program ends with a Mündliche Prüfung, an optional exam for an honors certificate.

Some very good news for those students who attend the Mises University: The student who emerges from the oral examinations (the Mündliche Prüfung) with the best record, as chosen by the examining committee, will be awarded the Douglas E. French Scholarship Prize of $2,500. The second and third highest scores will receive the George and Joele Eddy Prizes of $1,000 and $500 respectively. The winners will be announced and the prize money given at the closing cookout.

Subject areas cover market behavior, competition, value and utility, money and banking, business cycles, industrial organization, method, economic history, the philosophy of science, financial economics, and more. You attend what most suits your interests and level of advancement.

Classes are interspersed with reading groups, discussion seminars, faculty panels, and plenary lectures. There are special sessions on economic history, economics and ethics, and political philosophy. Nightly social hours allow time to meet and discuss it all with faculty and other students. There's even a primer on surviving graduate school.

All students must be familiar with the Required Readings prior to attending. You might also examine the lecture notes of David Heinrich (Class of 2004), which covers approx. 2/3 of the conference (many sessions are parallel).

THE CAMPUS

The Mises Institute, the world center for the scholarship of liberty, is located adjacent to the campus of Auburn University and near the heart of uptown Auburn. The recently expanded Mises Campus features seminar rooms, an extensive special-collections library, a large archival center housing the papers of Mises and other great Austrian economists, seminar rooms, and retail bookstore, a music conservatory, an outdoor amphitheater, and study gardens.

You'll stay at the Cambridge Dormitory, a private residential dorm near the Mises Institute, offering comfortable, air-conditioned rooms with private baths, laundry and computer facilities, fitness room, and an outdoor pool.

Breakfast will be served at the dormitory and all other meals are catered and will be enjoyed at the library and gardens of the Mises Institute. Classes will be in the seminar rooms and library of the Mises Institute. Nightly social hours will offer refreshments and movies in an informal atmosphere ideal for discussing new ideas from the daily lectures or for making new friends.

THE FACULTY

Walter Block (Loyola University, New Orleans)
Thomas DiLorenzo (Loyola College, Baltimore)
Roger Garrison (Auburn University)
David Gordon (Mises Review)
Jeffrey M. Herbener (Grove City College)
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (Mises Institute)
Jörg Guido Hülsmann (University of Angers)
Peter Klein (University of Missouri)
Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)
Robert Murphy (Mises Institute)
Ralph Raico (State University College at Buffalo)
George Reisman (Pepperdine University)
Joseph T. Salerno(Pace University)
Mark Thornton (Ludwig von Mises Institute)
Thomas Woods (Ludwig von Mises Institute)

THE CONSUMERS SAY

See this compendium of student comments

APPLY NOW

If you are a full-time student, graduate or undergraduate, fill out the on-line Student Scholarship Application which can be sent by mail or email attachment. The application deadline is June 23, 2008. Economics majors have priority, but students in all disciplines are encouraged to apply.

You must also send the following items to the Institute via email with attachments to pat@mises.org, or by fax to 734-448-8148, or via regular mail to Mises University, 518 W. Magnolia Avenue, Auburn, Alabama 36832.

unofficial copy of your transcript
copy of your student ID
No student scholarship application will be considered until it is complete.

If accepted, you must then familiarize yourself with the Required Readings, most of which are available on Mises.org. (Mark Thornton's readings on prediction in .doc)

You must also agree to abide by the Manual for visiting scholars (opens pdf in new window)

A limited number of Member Observer and Faculty slots are available. Please contact pat@mises.org for details.

Accommodations: Auburn University Hotel within walking distance of the Mises Institute. Call 800-228-2876 or 334-821-8200 before June 27 and mention the Mises Institute for a special rate of $105 per night single or double, plus tax. Or register on-line for a room at the Cambridge Dormitory.

Questions: Patricia Barnett

The Mises Circle in Vancouver
Sponsored by Almaden Minerals Ltd.

September 13, 2008 Vancouver, Canada — 9/14/2008 12:00:00 AM

Choice in Currency: A Path to Sound Money
Mises Circle Meets in Vancouver
(Sponsored by Almaden Minerals Ltd.)
Saturday, September 13, 2008

Vancouver Convention Centre
999 Canada Place

Student scholarships are available. Apply online and email a copy of your student ID (or fax to 734-448-8148).

If you are a U.S. citizen, please be prepared to present a valid passport upon arrival in Vancouver.

There is a way out of the present crisis: end the government's money monopoly. For reasons of history and bad economics, it is usually assumed that government must have sole control over the nation's money, and enforce this control with demands that no one may use any money other than that which the government has approved. In fact, money is a market commodity. It originated that way, without the help of the state. Indeed, the government is truly incapable of causing a money to come into existence. What the government does is nationalize a money that already exists, and then proceed to destroy it. That is precisely what happened in the case of all modern currencies.

So how can we return money to its natural market home? Why is this so necessary? This conference will address these questions and provide answers that are radical but practical too -- provided we have the will to do what's right.

Registration is $75 (US), and includes sessions, refreshment breaks and lunch. REGISTER NOW.

Tentative Schedule

9:00 - 9:30 a.m. Registration, East Meeting Room One
9:30 - 10:15 a.m. David Gordon, "Big Government Needs Money Manipulation"
10:30 - 11:15 a.m. Walter Block, "How Private Markets Can Provide Money"
11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Joseph Salerno, "A New Currency for the World"
12:15 - 1:15 p.m. Lunch
1:15 - 2:00 p.m. Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., "The Social Imperative of Sound Money"
2:00 p.m. Adjourn

James W. Fogal, CFP®, ChFC will also be on hand to discuss tax strategies.

The Mises Institute Bookstore will be open until 2:30 p.m. and speakers are happy to autograph books.

For accommodations, contact Downtown Vancouver Hampton Inn and Suites by Hilton at 877-602-1008 or 604-605-1465 or email tracy.mcrae@hilton.com and mention the "Mises Institute" before August 12 for a special rate of $185 Canadian per night, plus tax, including full hot breakfast and complimentary shuttle service to the Convention Centre where the Mises Circle will be held.

Questions: contact Patricia Barnett.

For airport transportation links and general visitors information, please see www.tourismvancouver.com and http://www.hellobc.com/en-CA/default.htm

Supporters Summit and Schlarbaum Award

October 31-November 1, 2008 Marriott Grand National, Auburn, Alabama — 11/2/2008 12:00:00 AM

The Gold Standard Revisited

From Menger to the present day, Austrians have favored sound money over government-manipulated paper currency. The very first Mises Institute conference in 1983 was on the gold standard. At the time, people said the idea was outmoded and that paper currency was working just fine. Here we are 25 years later, and it is not so.The dollar is in grave danger, the government is growing at the expense of society, and the business cycle has been unleashed with ferocity. The best time for a gold standard is in calm times, but only a crisis focuses the mind. People are looking for answers, and the Misesian answer is the same now as it was when Mises wrote his first book on the topic: restore sound money, stop the inflation, and get government out of the money business.

Topics and Speakers:

John Denson: "Unsound Money and War in the 20^th Century"
Thomas DiLorenzo: "The Gilded Age and the Gold Standard"
Doug French: "Bubbles Made of Paper: Then and Now"
David Gordon: "Money and Philosophy"
Guido Hulsmann: "The Ethical Rules of Producing Money"
Peter Klein: "How Firms Function with Falling Prices: Business and the Gold Standard"
Yuri Maltsev: "Inflation and the Bolsheviks"
Andrew Napolitano: "Nation of Sheep"
Ron Paul: "My Exchanges with Fed Chairmen"
Lew Rockwell: "How Abolishing the Fed Would Change Everything (for the better)"
Joe Salerno: "Inflation in Recent Monetary History"
Mark Thornton: "Monetary Freedom and its Opposite"
Tom Woods: "Gold and the Good Guys: A Short History of American Thinkers on Money"

Student scholarships are available. Apply online and email a copy of your student ID (or fax to 734-448-8148).

The Mises Circle in Houston
(A Jeremy Davis Seminar)

January 24, 2009 Houston, Texas — 1/25/2009 12:00:00 AM

Our Enemy, Inflation

How many times has Washington proclaimed that inflation has been conquered, only to have it return when and where we least expect it? Inflation remains today the great enemy of individual economic planning. This has both economic and cultural consequences.

Student scholarships are available. Apply online and email a copy of your student ID (or fax to 734-448-8148).

Austrian Scholars Conference 2009

March 12-14, 2009 Auburn, Alabama — 4/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

The Austrian Scholars Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, and for scholars interested or working in this intellectual tradition, it is the event of the year. The director of the conference is Joseph Salerno of Pace University.

Over the course of three full days, the Austrian Scholars Conference offers eighty plus presentations on economics, history, philosophy, and the humanities, in addition to named lectures by the leaders in the field. It combines all the opportunities of a professional meeting, with the added attraction of hearing and presenting new and innovative research, engaging in vigorous debate, and interacting with like-minded scholars who share research interests.

Papers and panels cover a wide range of fields that impact on the Austrian paradigm, including: monetary theory; international trade; money and banking; methodology; history of thought; economic history; business cycles; geography; interventionism; literature; political philosophy; philosophy of science; society, culture, and religion; business regulation; environmental political economy; and history and theory of war.

The first session begins at 10:30 a.m. Central Time on Thursday, March 12 and the last session ends at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, followed by a reception. The entire event takes place at the Mises Institute campus in Auburn, Alabama. The campus features spacious seminar rooms, a vast library with the best collection of Austrian School books in North America, and gorgeous gardens. All sessions and breaks take place at the Institute, where socializing and exchanging ideas become part of the conference experience.

What Past Attendees Have Said

"The Austrian Scholars Conference is a great opportunity for exchanging ideas and advancing the School." — Randall G. Holcombe, Florida State University

"The Austrian Scholars Conference is an extraordinary event — in terms of the range and quality of the panels and papers, the diversity of scholarly interests and research programs among the participants, and the sheer intellectual excitement that is palpable throughout the three days. If any evidence is necessary that Austrian economics and its related disciplines constitute a vibrant, growing movement, it is here for all to see." — Joseph Salerno, Pace University

"A wonderful conference!" — Tibor R. Machan, Chapman University

"No other conference in the economics profession discusses such a wide-ranging menu of interesting and important topics as the Austrian Scholars Conference." — Thomas DiLorenzo, Loyola College

"The most well organized and informative conference I've ever attended." — Colin Knapp, University of Florida

"I was truly impressed with what this conference achieved, and I was delighted to have the chance to meet up with so many friends." — Ronald Hamowy, University of Alberta

"It was an honor and special privilege to be part of such a high-level yet jovial gathering." — Mahan Akal, University of Tennessee

"I never come away from the ASC without at least a half dozen ideas for new writing projects." — Walter Block, Loyola University New Orleans

"Probably the best run conference I have ever attended. Also, the civility and open dialogue, together with strong commitments, were impressive. And the facility, the Ludwig von Mises Institute itself, is truly remarkable." — Joseph Pappin, University of South Carolina

SUBMISSIONS

Lost Literature of the Austrian School. Both Mises and Rothbard believed that scientific progress does not always take place in a linear fashion. All sciences are afflicted by diversions and lost knowledge along the way, some of which is only recovered many years later. Recent efforts to reprint the classics are yielding fascinating results within the Austrian tradition. Panels and papers can deal with some of these works and insights.

The Continental Tradition of Thought. The biography of Mises by Jörg Guido Hülsmann is a treasure trove of new information on European economics before World War II. Panels and papers are invited that explore this new knowledge and its implications for the history of thought and current Austrian theory.

Intellectual Property. Technology is making the old categories of IP protection obsolete, while the law lags behind the times. The empirical reality is compelling Austrians to reexamine the very legitimacy of IP. The ASC invites papers and panels on patents, copyrights, trademarks, real and artificial scarcity, monopolistic behavior, and the future of enterprise in a world without IP.

Global Warming and the environment. The global warming debate has gained popular attention but it also raises issues of economic theory: public goods and market failures; the impact of state funding on science; the trustworthiness of peer review; the ability of the market to adapt; the costs and benefits of industry and whether and to what extent those are reflected in the market price; and the viability of state planning to alter the course of natural and economic evolution.

Submissions include the following categories:

Individual papers. Submit an abstract of 250 words and include title of paper and institutional affiliation of the author(s). For papers on economics, also include JEL codes and keywords. You should also indicate whether you are willing to serve as a chair or discussant on another session.
Paper sessions. You are welcome to organize a full session. Session organizers should submit the theme or title of the session along with the names and institutional affiliations of the participants, including the chair and discussants, if any. Abstracts of papers in the proposed session, containing information indicated above, should also be submitted by the organizer or by the individual presenters.
Organized symposia. Organized symposia include panelists speaking on a common theme or issue, but without formal papers. To propose an organized symposium please submit a description of the theme or title of the session along with the names and institutional affiliations of the participants, including the chair.

To suggest papers and sessions, write Joseph Salerno at jsale@earthlink.net or his assistant at tucker@mises.org. Submissions will be accepted until all the time slots are taken.

ACCOMMODATIONS AND FEES

Hotel rooms at the Auburn University Hotel are available. Phone 1-800-228-2876 or 334-821-8200. Be sure to mention Austrian Scholars Conference of the Mises Institute for the special rate. If the hotel is fully booked, please connect to our Austrian Guide to Auburn for alternative hotels within walking distance. The Mises Institute will provide complimentary shuttle from the front of Hilton Garden Inn at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 13 to transfer to your room at AU Hotel. Another complimentary shuttle will leave from the front of AU Hotel at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 13 going to the Mises Institute.

For faculty and others, the registration fee is $200, which includes all sessions, hearty receptions, coffee breaks, and daily shuttles between AU Hotel and the Institute. For qualified full-time students, the registration fee to attend all sessions and receptions is waived (submit application form below, with copy of student ID). Contact pat@mises.org with questions.

NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

The Austrian Scholars Conference draws outstanding papers and participants from all parts of the world. It is the most important annual international meeting for everyone who works within the Austrian tradition.

The conference opens on Thursday with a forum on new books, with presentations by the authors of the main ideas in their books, how they came to be published, their experiences in marketing, and how they have been reviewed and received. The conference continues with panels. Friday and Saturday are devoted to paper presentations in concurrent sessions, as in the past.

In addition to nearly 100 presentations, the conference also includes receptions, all to be held on the beautiful campus of the Mises Institute, which features a library of 30,000 books along with Mises and Rothbard archives. You will find research materials available here that are otherwise inaccessible, so plan to use some of your time to advance your own research.

If you have never been to the ASC, I encourage you to attend this year. Papers and books that advance the Austrian School are presented here for the first time, which gives you the chance to discuss ideas with presenters and participants and make an important contribution to impacting the future of the School. If you are looking for comments on a paper, or just a chance to bounce some ideas off others who know something other than the latest mathematical wizardry of the profession, this is the place.

This is also the ideal setting for making professional contacts that will help you through the years. Your expertise and interests are highly valued by others. In addition, we always have a great time. There is no substitute for the intellectual stimulation and personal camaraderie that the Austrian Scholars Conference combines into one event. The price of the conference is $200, the same as last year. You can make reservations at the Auburn University Hotel by calling 800.228.2876.

Write me with your submissions.

Joseph Salerno
Pace University
jsale@earthlink.net

Ludwig von Mises Institute Upcoming Events

Mises University 2008

AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS

THE PROGRAM

THE CAMPUS

THE FACULTY

THE CONSUMERS SAY

APPLY NOW

The Mises Circle in Vancouver Sponsored by Almaden Minerals Ltd.

Supporters Summit and Schlarbaum Award

The Gold Standard Revisited

The Mises Circle in Houston (A Jeremy Davis Seminar)

Our Enemy, Inflation

Austrian Scholars Conference 2009

What Past Attendees Have Said

SUBMISSIONS

ACCOMMODATIONS AND FEES

The Mises Circle in Vancouver
Sponsored by Almaden Minerals Ltd.

The Mises Circle in Houston
(A Jeremy Davis Seminar)